Heinz Shares Soar On Buyout News, John Kerry Scores Big

H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) shares are up 20 percent after the announcement that billionaire investor Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) and 3G Capital would buy the company for $28 billion. Shareholders of H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) will receive $72.50 per share, which is just a tiny bit above the stock’s current price at the New York Stock Exchange.

One topic many investors are considering is just how much Secretary of State John Kerry will earn off the sale. Of course Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, who is the heiress to the Heinz ketchup empire.

Last year the Center for Responsive Politics indicated that Kerry held a $3 million stake in H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ). If he still holds that same stake, Kerry could rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars on the deal—possibly as much as $670,000, according to Business Insider. Mrs. Heinz Kerry also held a significant stake in the ketchup company.

Both Kerry and his wife said they would sell off some of their private investments earlier this month when Kerry became the new Secretary of State. However the sale of H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) likely has little to do with his new political position.

DealBook reports that the ethics form Kerry filed recently indicated that he would sell his stakes in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and several other huge companies, but Heinz was not one of them listed on that form.

Kerry has recently said that he would recuse himself from issues involving Heinz. However he can still weigh in on those issues. At this point we don’t know how or why Kerry might meet up with Heinz in the course of his new role as Secretary of State.